The present invention relates to a minesweeping system, in particular, for surface mines of the pressure plate type, the system having minesweeping structure pushed by a motorized vehicle, which structure is designed to come in contact with a mine resting on the ground and cause it to explode.
Minesweeping devices are generally comprised of wheels disposed in a staggered arrangement to cover a given width of terrain. Each wheel is rotationally free and rolls over the ground such that a mine should be able to explode on contact and upon the passage of a single wheel. However, a mine equipped with a pressure plate requires, for explosion, application of a pressure for a period of time that represents the pressure exerted by an infantryman walking at normal speed or by a vehicle driving at low speed, this time being estimated at approximately 0.4 second. As a result, the effectiveness of such a wheel-mounted minesweeping system is governed by the minesweeping rate, requiring that the time taken for a single wheel to pass over a mine be long enough to explode the mine. This rate being of course a function of the wheel diameter.
Moreover, another drawback of such a wheel-mounted minesweeping system is that relatively long intervals are required to replace wheel elements that have degraded following explosion of a mine.